A Syndergaard-free September

Yesterday, the New York Mets announced OF Bobby Abreu and RHP Gonzalez Germen would join the team in New York tonight after the Las Vegas 51s were eliminated from the Pacific Coast League playoffs this weekend. They are expected to be the Mets’ final September roster additions.

Top pitching prospect Noah Syndergaardseemed disappointed that he would have to wait until next year to make his major league debut.

Some fans were outraged that the Mets didn’t call him up.

I get it – Syndergaard has been promoted at the team’s next shiny new toy ever since Zack Wheeler arrived in the big leagues last summer. The Mets need us to be excited about young, cost-controlled players as long as they continue to operate with a small-market team’s payroll.

But promoting Syndergaard now serves little purpose – the Mets already have five starting pitchers and want to work in Rafael Montero for a spot start. There’s no opportunity to give Syndergaard innings there.

(And for those of you who want Bartolo Colon, Jonathon Niese and/or Dillon Gee gone next year, realize that Sandy Alderson isn’t going to give them away. The Mets don’t need to pull any of them from the rotation and leave other teams wondering if the move was sparked by durability issues as much as a desire to get a brief look at a prospect.)

Putting Syndergaard in the bullpen is an option, of course, but Terry Collins has little trust in his first two September call ups – LHP Dario Alvarez and RHP Erik Goeddel – and will be asked to take a look at Montero out of the bullpen over the season’s final two weeks, too. There doesn’t seem like much of an opportunity to get Syndergaard innings in relief, either.

If Syndergaard isn’t traded this winter, we’ll have a chance to see him pitch sometime in 2015 — probably after somebody else gets hurt and the Mets look to the minor leagues for a replacement. And that’s ok – it’s just that it has been so long since the Mets had anything resembling depth at a position that we’re not used to it.

If you want to have a better reason to be upset about something Mets-related, read these articles from Howard Megdaland Michael Geus.

Otherwise, take a look at the 2015 Mets schedule and start thinking about whether you can plan any baseball vacations next year.